TV News & Notes: Dollhouse, Lie To Me & More

We here at Screen Rant have so much TV news that we need to break it up into a few articles this week.

With that said, I thought in this extra chapter (or off-shoot of my weekly article), I’d bring some early news and information about Dollhouse, 24 and Lie To Me. I’ve also got some bits of news about the FX network shows Damages & Lawman. I finally wrap it up with some King of the Hill info, The Office news and a question to you, our faithful readers.

Dollhouse

This is an FYI to the faithful fans of Dollhouse: The 13th episode, called “Epitaph One” is now available on the US and Canadian iTunes sites.

More Battlestar Galactica Cast on 24

Watch out Jack, a Cylon is coming your way!

Callum Keith Rennie, (The Cylon Leoben Conoy from Battlestar Galactica) has been cast as Vladimir Laitana, a Russian mobster who shows up around episode 6 or so in the upcoming new season of Fox’s 24.

Vladiir is expected to team up with another mobster named Bazhaev, played by Jurgen Prochnow.

In the first season of Lie To Me, we watched the show develop its legs and tell us the tale of Cal Lightman, (played by the ingenius Tim Roth) the human lie detector, and his work group. We came to understand the science behind the premise of the show.

This upcoming season, show runner Shawn Ryan (The Unit) has come on board and will be taking the show towards a more character driven story. Some of the things coming up in relation to the character developments, or what we’ll learn more about are:

Lightman’s past.

The [Gillian] Foster-[Cal] Lightman relationship.

Foster’s (Kelli Williams) divorce, and her continued pursuit of the adoption process.

Lightman’s ex-wife (Jennifer Beals), will be back for a few episodes.

Mekhi Phifer will return as a series regular.

Lie to Me is inspired by the scientific discoveries of psychologist Dr. Paul Ekman, who can read body language clues to determine the truth of the matter in criminal investigations as we follow Dr. Cal Lightman, the world’s leading deception expert, as he solves cases.

If you remember, I loved the insidious nature of the legal drama Damages with Glenn Close. It was even recognized as an Emmy nominee. Yet the week-to-week ratings were low and FX president John Landgraf recognizes that people play catch up with their recording instrument of choice. Unfortunately, Nielsen doesn’t even acknowledge shows that are watched outside of a 7-day window. Other than that, he didn’t say much more, but I have to wonder if that was a precursor to kissing Damages goodbye? I hope not, I do happen to really enjoy that show!

Aside from that, FX is looking to extend their episode order of Rescue Me to a 22 episodes while they push more into a comedy based line-up for other nights and time slots. They seem prompted in this direction by the success they’ve had with of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which is starting its 5th season.

Personally, I think Sunny is a great fluke of comedic writing that’s pulled together and delivered by a great group of actors. I’m not sure they’re going to get more out other comedies. We’ll see what they have up their funny sleeves!

Despite their new comedy-based focus, they are looking to launch a new drama called Lawman starring Timothy Olyphant. Lawman is based on the Elmore Leonard stories and follows a U.S. Marshal who returns home to Kentucky after spending time in Miami.

Source: Variety

King of the Hill

FYI: King of the Hill is coming to a close after a 13-season run and its final episode will be a 1-hour series finale that will air on Sunday, September 13th.

During a recent media get together, NBC let out some snippets of info about The Office.

Finally – Pam and Jim are going to head down the aisle after how long? 5 years! In fact, it’s going to happen pretty quickly and take place in the 4th episode of the new season.

The sixth season of The Office begins September 17 at 9/8c on NBC.

Now you know!

Source: E! Online

ABC’s Defying Gravity

I’ve completely overlooked the ABC sci-fi effort called Defying Gravity. I mean completely overlooked it as in not even watched it yet.

The show is set in the near future where 8 astronauts from 5 different countries are on a 6-year mission that covers an 8 billion mile journey.

I actually have a question for you, our readers! Has anyone taken a gander at this show? What’s your opinion? I’d love to hear if I should change my viewing habits to catch some episodes or not. Now’s your chance to give us at Screen Rant a review on Defying Gravity.